IM Pro Series 2026

Triathlon Forum
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With Christiansen a likely second, and pushing Kat down to 3rd (so $200k → $85k), you wonder if they either missed the calculus on the 2nd challenger or the appearance fee + prize money at Roth is really that good. I assume that when she DNF’d in Texas they looked at doing another IM pro series (Placid? Hamburg?) and declined in favour of their commitment to Roth.

Roth pays €30k to the winner vs something like lake placid $18k, so there’s some offset. But they’re still out $100k at the moment, assuming that she wins Roth - less appearance fees and what we sponsor arrangements are there.

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Ya but she also needs to go with what motivates her and she might be able to do something special in Roth.

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It seems for Matthews, Roth (against Philipp and sub-8 the stretch target in benign conditions) was/is a contracted non-negotiable (and ‘bucket list’; all the top women have won Roth). I guess after the Texas debacle (and loss of the planned ‘second 5000’) the replacement choice was Hamburg (IMLP far too close to Roth; Kalmar would prejudice Nice (where Matthews is a contender after two #2s ('23 and '24) and a near #2 in '25). Clearly they thought getting up for Hamburg and then for Roth 4 weeks later would prejudice the planned mid-season ‘break’ (after an early start in IMNZ), to the detriment to both Nice and Kona.

Christensen raced to form for the first few races of 2026, and her #2 in South Africa suggested the IM Pro Series was not on the agenda (otherwise race Texas). Aix was underwhelming (#6), well down on Pierre. However the 8:15 for #3 in Hamburg was a level up: biking within 2 minutes of Loevseth and then running a 2:45, 4 minutes faster than her. Boom! IM Pro Series worth chasing, and finishing within a minute of Matthews yesterday solidified that opportunity of $130,000. Does her Hamburg performance push her into the top tier (LCB, Loevseth, Philipp, Knibb, Matthews)? I think not but assuredly in the second row with Berry, Derron (races Thun for her KQ); Davies (IMSA winner and 11 minutes ahead of Christensen; races Roth in her first race against top tier athletes) and Pierre (qv). Three names I’d add to those, awaiting ‘evidence’ are Sodaro (MiA/rehab/thinking about Kona validation), Lawrence (IMLP?) and if the cookie crumbles, debutant Findlay.

Pierre is another athlete who has a shot for #2 in the IM Pro Series. Her win in Aix plus a #4 in Hamburg puts her well in the running. I assume she will race IMLP and could bag excellent points there to set herself up for a Nice and Kona push which would challenge Christensen (and beat Matthews). If. If. She is on the start list of both 70.3 Nice (home girl) and 70.3 Jonkoping in successive weeks, however, which seems ‘enthusiastic’.

Loevseth has said she’ll likely race Swansea for 2500ish. If she does I can see her not racing Nice (she has said she thinks races with climb disadvantage her - see Marbella) and having a clear run to Kona. Or she may want to race Nice for the social aspect (having enjoyed Marbella): if so, look forward to seeing her there (literally).

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They’re likely paying her quite a hefty appearance fee (as quite common for Roth with their top pros) plus travel is easier and cheaper, bucket list race, possibility of stupidly fast time, etc.

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The great takeaway here is that the pro series is actually competitive this year, likely on both sides. MVR could be a legitimate contender to Blu/Stornes and Foley has some potential if he fires well at the WCs. And as you noted there are many women in the hunt at least for a Podium if Lovseth stays on her winning path.

Though at least for Kat, the lesson here is you can only pick 2 of WCs, Roth or Pro series. One flat tire, or in Blu’s case a sickness and the season derails.

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based on every pro series result so far you have to chose between ironman worlds or the pro series win…

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I think just about every pro would trade the pro series results for a WC win, one or the other, but obviously Kona > Nice.

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The series is shaping up to be a nail biter, but after seeing the spoiler in the title of this last race, I had no interest in going back and watching it. Very predictable who the favorites were, and not a whole lot behind them. Props to the others that did give them a race, just not the “right” folks to pull in mine and other eyeballs it appears…

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Frankfurt could get interesting this weekend. Temperatures are forecast to reach up to 38 degrees. A few years ago, Sarah True collapsed 1 km from the finish line while holding a significant lead in similar heat.

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Will definitely pick Kona any day. Your legacy in the sport is secured and it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

in the past, folks like Rinny will spend the year cruising and peak nicely at Kona for the win x3. Timed it to perfection!

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add Patrick to the kona winning method, race for show, kona for doe.

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and @pk but how many pro’s can actually do the “all in” for Kona only results? Is there even 10 total pro’s in the sport that would be advised to do that?

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Too bad you missed it - on the women’s side, Kat’s win wasn’t at all secure until about halfway through the run since her bike was sub par for her. Even then Christiansen was hanging 20-30s back for a long while on the run - was Kat doing the bare minimum to win on a big training block, or about to implode? Though on the men’s side, apart from colliding with a jetski and then sprinting to make the first group, MVR’s result was never really in doubt.

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Yes I’m sure it was an exciting race to watch live, but once I saw the predicted results and the level of the chasing pros, I lost all interest in going back and watching the replay..And replays are how I have to watch most races these days, the different time zones and just life seem to get in the way. But I do look forward to getting up in the morning and putting on those races, but forgot about the spoiler prevalence and clicked onto ST before..I guess my bad, but I don’t think I’m the only one in this boat..

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I spent more time checking on Ari’s race than that Pro Series 70.3.

This weekend,different story.

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Think folks today race way too often. Some have burnt out? Leon Chevalier and Daniel Baekkegard are two that come to mind, maybe more?

agree that not all pros can go all in for Kona but think limiting your racing to 2 big races per year might be optimal at least for longevity. LP is a good example, she only raced 4x last year and probably similar this year. She is almost 40. Eye on the prize

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I don’t see either the male or female series to be a nail biter. There are 2 clear winners already unless something crazy happens.

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Looking to see whether any stats help your ‘thoughts’.

On the ‘too often’: the outlier example might be Siffert who raced ‘a lot’ in 2025 - after a stellar 2024 (9 races, 4 x #1s, 5 x #2s) 2025 didn’t go well. Coach advice?

You put out Philipp as an example of “limiting your racing to 2 big races per year [as] optimal at least for longevity”. But in 2025 she raced three fulls, the same ones as this year’s plan. When not affected by the pandemic or injury she typically races 6 times including recently two or three fulls. Was boosted to total 9 races by $$ T100 extras in 2024. Counter to your hypothesis, though, the year Philipp raced 9 she won IMWC! (?“Eye on the Prize?” “LP only raced 4x last year” and she underperformed (against her champion standard) at Kona. This year: we’ll see.

Sticking to two fulls seems reasonable but either the Pro Series, these last two years, or the need to KQ and the wish to race Roth means many top athletes choose to race three each year. This was eased, for post pandemic years, by previous champions not needing to validate. Laidlow races rarely but last year: 3 fulls; this year 3 fulls. KQ/validation, Roth and then IMWC. Maybe Matthews’ unfixable tyre and no suitable neutral wheel Texas fiasco was a blessing in disguise: IMNZ, Roth and then Kona, as opposed to 3 then Kona.

A fair few are affected by injuries/illness (most likely not caused by too many races) which skew the figures.
Athlete then fulls raced 2025, 2024, 2023, 2019, 2018, then apparent 2026 plan:
LCB 2,1,1,3,3 - 2
Loevseth 3(debut) - 3
Matthews 3,3,2,1(debut) - 3
Philipp 3,2,1,1,1(debut) - 3
Christensen 3,5,3(debut) - 3
[Knibb, Sodaro** (MiA/rehab/thinking about Kona validation), Derron are all ‘special cases’ imho.]

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Does Sodaro even race in 2026?

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[quote=“Ajax_Bay, post:345, topic:1292663”]
Philipp raced 9 with 3 fulls, she won IMWC
[/quote] where she was Never really going flat out in any (was it 8.18 in roth 15 min behind Anne haug ?)
versus doing an 8.03 in Hamburg 2025.
we could also use casper vs Blum , Blum tries to win every race , casper focuses more on kona and is totally fine to come 3 rd in a race.
and lets be honest its kind of crazy kat has not won a world title as she definitely has it and with burning a few less matches during the year I would fairly sure she would have a world title by now.

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